A
abooja
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I thought this was very sweet of Jimmie.
http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/headlines/...nson/index.html
A year later, Johnson still affected by Alexander
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive October 10, 2002
3:47 PM EDT (1947 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- It's always there, an abstract tribute to a fallen comrade drawn in black permanent marker.
If you look close enough, you'll see the handcrafted flame just under the driver's side headlight of every blue and silver Lowe's Chevrolet in the Hendrick Motorsports stable.
Jimmie Johnson will accept nothing less.
"It means a lot to me that Blaise has a presence on the front of my car," Johnson said of his dear friend Blaise Alexander, killed a year ago in the ARCA series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"That way, every time I cross the finish line, he'll always finish ahead of me."
For Johnson, that small banner of remembrance is as important as his HANS device, his seatbelts and his helmet. It's a visual safety net, a calming influence from a concerned co-pilot.
"I met Blaise when I moved to the North Carolina area," Johnson said. "It took a little while to get to know him. But once you spent some time and got to know him, you found he was such a neat person with a carefree spirit.
"Everyone liked him. I formed a friendship with him and his family and his brothers. There was some comfort with him. I enjoyed being around him. He was a lot of fun and I miss him dearly."
Alexander was battling Kerry Earnhardt door-to-door for the win and as the two drivers entered the double-dogleg on the final lap they touched, sending Alexander head-on into the outside wall and flipping Earnhardt over on his roof.
Alexander was killed on impact. He was just 25 years old.
A year later, the sting is still there. Every day. At every track. In every race. Alexander was Johnson's best friend, someone to lean on, a guaranteed laugh no matter the problem. He doesn't want to let that memory fade.
"Some days or weeks I think about him a lot more than others," Johnson said. "Sometimes, you just feel him there. In my house I still have pictures of him everywhere. So I see him every day. He's on my race cars, so I see him at the racetrack. It's comforting for me."
Acceptance hasn't come easily. Alexander's car wasn't outfitted with proper safety equipment. It had no head-and-neck restraint and a rickety seat. For Johnson, that was a huge wake-up call. Every driver took heed in the wake of Dale Earnhardt's passing. But for Johnson, Alexander's death had a more profound effect.
"When you lose somebody that close to you, it's a big reality check," he said. "I think the loss of (Dale) Earnhardt really woke everyone up. But still, when it doesn't hit close to home -- because I didn't know him -- it's different. But the next month, it was really hard on me."
The morning after Alexander's fatal accident, Johnson took the track in his NASCAR Busch Series machine. There was no hesitation, only grief. Each time he circled the track, he zoomed past the marks left on the wall from Alexander's impact. To carry on, he had to build a mental barricade.
"Going down the frontstretch and seeing his marks where he hit the wall and seeing where the car came to a stop in the grass was really tough the first couple of times through there," Johnson said.
"I found myself just blocking it out. Luckily, by race time I had been able to build a mental wall tall enough that I couldn't pay too much attention to it. I found my way through the weekend."
And he's managed to find his way through a year, arguably the greatest year of his life. He's enjoyed the best rookie season in Winston Cup history with three wins, five poles and for a time, the points lead.
No rookie had ever been the points leader before, and only one rookie, Tony Stewart, had ever won as many as three races in his inaugural campaign.
"I think about him all the time -- especially with how good we are running," Johnson said. "He would be loving every minute of it.
"As good of friends as we were, I remember how bad he always wanted to beat me on the racetrack. I've been very lucky throughout my career and he would always remind me of how lucky I was in certain situations. With that in mind, I've got him on the front of every single one of my race cars.
"There's a little thing (where) one of my friends at the shop writes in his name and puts some flames on it on the bumper of the car. Every time we're out there on the racetrack, he beats me across the finish line. It's kind of a little thing that ties it all together there."
http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/headlines/...nson/index.html
A year later, Johnson still affected by Alexander
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive October 10, 2002
3:47 PM EDT (1947 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- It's always there, an abstract tribute to a fallen comrade drawn in black permanent marker.
If you look close enough, you'll see the handcrafted flame just under the driver's side headlight of every blue and silver Lowe's Chevrolet in the Hendrick Motorsports stable.
Jimmie Johnson will accept nothing less.
"It means a lot to me that Blaise has a presence on the front of my car," Johnson said of his dear friend Blaise Alexander, killed a year ago in the ARCA series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"That way, every time I cross the finish line, he'll always finish ahead of me."
For Johnson, that small banner of remembrance is as important as his HANS device, his seatbelts and his helmet. It's a visual safety net, a calming influence from a concerned co-pilot.
"I met Blaise when I moved to the North Carolina area," Johnson said. "It took a little while to get to know him. But once you spent some time and got to know him, you found he was such a neat person with a carefree spirit.
"Everyone liked him. I formed a friendship with him and his family and his brothers. There was some comfort with him. I enjoyed being around him. He was a lot of fun and I miss him dearly."
Alexander was battling Kerry Earnhardt door-to-door for the win and as the two drivers entered the double-dogleg on the final lap they touched, sending Alexander head-on into the outside wall and flipping Earnhardt over on his roof.
Alexander was killed on impact. He was just 25 years old.
A year later, the sting is still there. Every day. At every track. In every race. Alexander was Johnson's best friend, someone to lean on, a guaranteed laugh no matter the problem. He doesn't want to let that memory fade.
"Some days or weeks I think about him a lot more than others," Johnson said. "Sometimes, you just feel him there. In my house I still have pictures of him everywhere. So I see him every day. He's on my race cars, so I see him at the racetrack. It's comforting for me."
Acceptance hasn't come easily. Alexander's car wasn't outfitted with proper safety equipment. It had no head-and-neck restraint and a rickety seat. For Johnson, that was a huge wake-up call. Every driver took heed in the wake of Dale Earnhardt's passing. But for Johnson, Alexander's death had a more profound effect.
"When you lose somebody that close to you, it's a big reality check," he said. "I think the loss of (Dale) Earnhardt really woke everyone up. But still, when it doesn't hit close to home -- because I didn't know him -- it's different. But the next month, it was really hard on me."
The morning after Alexander's fatal accident, Johnson took the track in his NASCAR Busch Series machine. There was no hesitation, only grief. Each time he circled the track, he zoomed past the marks left on the wall from Alexander's impact. To carry on, he had to build a mental barricade.
"Going down the frontstretch and seeing his marks where he hit the wall and seeing where the car came to a stop in the grass was really tough the first couple of times through there," Johnson said.
"I found myself just blocking it out. Luckily, by race time I had been able to build a mental wall tall enough that I couldn't pay too much attention to it. I found my way through the weekend."
And he's managed to find his way through a year, arguably the greatest year of his life. He's enjoyed the best rookie season in Winston Cup history with three wins, five poles and for a time, the points lead.
No rookie had ever been the points leader before, and only one rookie, Tony Stewart, had ever won as many as three races in his inaugural campaign.
"I think about him all the time -- especially with how good we are running," Johnson said. "He would be loving every minute of it.
"As good of friends as we were, I remember how bad he always wanted to beat me on the racetrack. I've been very lucky throughout my career and he would always remind me of how lucky I was in certain situations. With that in mind, I've got him on the front of every single one of my race cars.
"There's a little thing (where) one of my friends at the shop writes in his name and puts some flames on it on the bumper of the car. Every time we're out there on the racetrack, he beats me across the finish line. It's kind of a little thing that ties it all together there."